Burger King would not have become the fast-food giant they are today if they didn’t prioritize their important ingredients. They only use ingredients that can be used for multiple menu items, and they incentivize the purchase of low-cost items, which leads to sizable profits.

Profitable Ingredients

Burger King uses low-cost items and deals to entice customers to purchase more than they normally would. The bacon cheeseburger on their dollar menu only brings them a 6 cent profit, but the likelihood of purchasing their more profitable items increases.

Low Cost Items as Bait

They may seem like cheap additions to already cheap meals, but items like chicken nuggets and mozzarella sticks are very profitable, as they can be cooked quickly and in bulk. Another example is the addition of cheese on a Whopper, which costs 50 cents.

Extras

A big factor for profit for many fast food chains is the use of value meals. The use of value meals further incentivizes the purchase of extra items that normally wouldn’t be bought or wanted.

Value Deal Mechanics

When companies become large enough, the view of “quantity over quality” can become an enormous driver of profit. The view works on the economic principle of elasticity, as an item’s price can be lowered for a profit if the demand is high enough.

Volume of Food Sold

There are benefits to being a franchise as large as Burger King, because they’re able to leverage value as a partner when negotiating prices for their ingredients. However, their corner-cutting methods have occasionally backfired, and they have ended up with less-than-savory meat.

Cheap Ingredients

The franchise has a higher average wage than the industry standard, but the average annual income of employees is less than half the median annual wage in the U.S. The franchise also plans to cut even more costs by investing in ordering terminals in their stores.

Low Wages